Pro Bono Committee
We see the enthusiastic engagement of our people as a critical component to the success of our pro bono program.
Allens Arthur Robinson has recently become a Foundation Signatory to the Aspirational Target organised by the National Pro Bono Resource Centre. In becoming a Foundation Signatory, the firm demonstrates its commitment to a strong and vibrant pro bono practice. We use our best efforts to ensure that, on average, our lawyers undertake a minimum of 35 hours of pro bono work each year.
Allens Arthur Robinson gives pro bono assistance to organisations whose objective is to improve or protect the natural world, and organisations that promote the protection of human rights, including the rights of Indigenous people, refugees, the homeless and those with a mental illness.
Through our work with various homeless welfare agencies, the Public Interest Law Clearing Houses in NSW, Victoria and Queensland and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in NSW, as well as through our human rights work, we advise more than 300 individuals a year. The total number of not-for-profit clients we are likely to be working with at any one time is between 150-200.
Our lawyers can get more involved in our pro bono practice by undertaking secondments at community legal centres. We also extend pro bono opportunities to our vacation clerks. Each year, four of our vacation clerks complete a six-week internship at a Native Title Representative Body or Land Council around Australia. There is also an opportunity for Melbourne vacation clerks to participate in a two-week fellowship at the Public Interest Law Clearing House in Victoria.
For more information about our pro bono practice, please contact pro bono director Nicky Friedman at probono@aar.com.au.
You can download the pdf version of our Community Commitment brochure (2MB).
